Old Spice Guy Terry Crews Invades Kinder, Gentler Commercials

Old Spice’s brash branding has gotten so loud that it’s started to spread to other commercials. But it’s not that other ads are adopting the shouting tone that Terry Crews — who preceded Isaiah Mustafa and is now reappearing — so aptly delivers. Old Spice is literally invading other ads. As Crews exclaims, loudly, “Old Spice Body Spray is too powerful to stay in its own commercial!”

Which is why a bucolic ad featuring a doting mother explaining her love for the Bounce Dryer Bar is interrupted with a fiery explosion and a jet ski crashing through her laundry-room wall. But this is no apocalyptic scene. Instead, Crews rides in, shouting the praises of Old Spice at a 1,000-decibel volume. As Old Spice’s tagline declares, “Smell is power,” and there’s little doubt to that statement after we witness Crews’ pecs making power-tool noises.

Now that’s something Mustafa couldn’t pull off — he’s a lover, not a fighter. There are no lofty ideals like horses or diamonds here; Old Spice has opted for the in-your-face ferocity tactic with Crews, a former NFL linebacker, most recently for the Redskins. (Mustafa was merely a practice-squad wide receiver in the NFL.) But fear not, fans of “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” Mustafa hasn’t been booted from active duty. Crews simply fits better with the image of power, Josh Talge, Old Spice’s brand manager, recently told Mashable.

While the other brands featured in the ads, Charmin and Bounce, get their thunder forcefully stolen from them, this is, in truth, no violent coup. While on the surface Old Spice seems to be hijacking brands with very different missions from its own, they all share the same parent company, Procter & Gamble. It’s a smart way for the company to get dual exposure for its products. And if all goes according to plan, maybe all the shouting will inspire the muscular, good-smelling men that make up Old Spice’s target market to stock up on Bounce and Charmin too.

Old Spice’s brash branding has gotten so loud that it’s started to spread to other commercials. But it’s not that other ads are adopting the shouting tone that Terry Crews — who preceded Isaiah Mustafa and is now reappearing — so aptly delivers. Old Spice is literally invading other ads. As Crews exclaims, loudly, “Old Spice Body Spray is too powerful to stay in its own commercial!”

Which is why a bucolic ad featuring a doting mother explaining her love for the Bounce Dryer Bar is interrupted with a fiery explosion and a jet ski crashing through her laundry-room wall. But this is no apocalyptic scene. Instead, Crews rides in, shouting the praises of Old Spice at a 1,000-decibel volume. As Old Spice’s tagline declares, “Smell is power,” and there’s little doubt to that statement after we witness Crews’ pecs making power-tool noises.

Now that’s something Mustafa couldn’t pull off — he’s a lover, not a fighter. There are no lofty ideals like horses or diamonds here; Old Spice has opted for the in-your-face ferocity tactic with Crews, a former NFL linebacker, most recently for the Redskins. (Mustafa was merely a practice-squad wide receiver in the NFL.) But fear not, fans of “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” Mustafa hasn’t been booted from active duty. Crews simply fits better with the image of power, Josh Talge, Old Spice’s brand manager, recently told Mashable.

While the other brands featured in the ads, Charmin and Bounce, get their thunder forcefully stolen from them, this is, in truth, no violent coup. While on the surface Old Spice seems to be hijacking brands with very different missions from its own, they all share the same parent company, Procter & Gamble. It’s a smart way for the company to get dual exposure for its products. And if all goes according to plan, maybe all the shouting will inspire the muscular, good-smelling men that make up Old Spice’s target market to stock up on Bounce and Charmin too.